651035 - Need API to determine if a reported error is fatal (internal?)

Status: RESOLVED INACTIVE

(Core :: JavaScript Engine, defect)

Description

[Rob Arnold [:robarnold]]

Node uses a fatal error callback via V8::SetFatalErrorHandler. In our JSAPI error reporter handler, we need to determine if a given error report is a fatal one so that we can invoke the V8API callback when appropriate.

Comment 1

[Luke Wagner [:luke]]

If by "fatal" you mean "about to crash/abort", then SpiderMonkey doesn't have fatal errors.  However, there are "uncatchable exceptions" (like OOM) which, as the name implies, cannot by caught by try/catch in script and instead return immediately from the JS engine (returning false but with !JS_IsExceptionPending).  You can be notified of these errors synchronously through the error reporter hook (see JS_SetErrorReporter).  I'm not an expert on this, but the surrounding comments indicate that you can tell between catchable and uncatchable errors being reported.

Comment 2

[Bryan Thrall [:bthrall]]

It looks like V8 uses the term "fatal errors" in the same sense as we use MOZ_ASSERT. This isn't something we support right now, but there doesn't seem to be a strong urge to implement it, either.